m, might be turned to profitable account. All the
preparation required is, to enclose the ground with a high and nearly
close paling fence, and the erection of a few rude hutches inside, for
winter shelter and the storage of their food. They will burrow into the
ground, and breed with great rapidity; and in the fall and winter
seasons, they will be fat for market with the food they gather from the
otherwise worthless soil over which they run. Rocky, bushy, and
evergreen grounds, either hill, dale, or plain, are good for them,
wherever the soils are dry and friable. The rabbit is a gross feeder,
living well on what many grazing animals reject, and gnawing down all
kinds of bushes, briars, and noxious weeds.

The common domestic rabbits are probably the best for market purposes,
and were they to be made an object of attention, immense tracts of
mountain land in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the New York and New
England highlands could be made available for this object.

Some may think this a small business. So is making pins, and rearing
chickens, and bees. But there are an abundance of people, whose age and
capacity are just fitted for it, and for want of other employment are a
charge upon their friends or the public; and now, when our cities and
large towns are so readily reached by railroads from all parts of the
country, our farmers should study to apply their land to the production
of everything that will find a profitable market. Things unthought of,
a few years ago, now find a large consumption in our large cities and
towns, by the aid of railroads; and we know of no good reason, why this
production and traffic should not continue to an indefinite extent. When
the breeding of rabbits is commenced, get a good treatise on the
breeding and rearing of them, which may be found at many of the
bookstores.

As the rearing of rabbits, and their necessary accommodation, is not a
subject to which we have given much personal attention, we applied to
Francis Rotch, Esq., of Morris, Otsego county, New York, who is probably
the most accomplished rabbit "fancier" in the United States, for
information, with which he has kindly furnished us. His beautiful and
high-bred animals have won the highest premiums, at the shows of the New
York State Agricultural Society. He thus answers:

"I now forward you the promised plan from Mr. Alfred Rodman, of
Dedham, Massachusetts, which, I think, will give you the information
you wish up